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Pears baked with lemon, bay and marsala
Serves 6 Desserts and puddings
Ingredients
- 6 fat, just-ripe pears, (preferably Williams)
- 600ml marsala
- juice of 1 unwaxed lemon, plus the zest of ½, removed in broad strips
- 6 bay leaves
- 125g soft light brown sugar
To serve
- crème fraîche
Method
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/ Gas 5. Halve the pears lengthways. Lay them, cut sides up, in a single layer in a shallow ovenproof dish. The dish should just hold the pears, without lots of room around, otherwise the marsala will evaporate. Don’t core or peel the pears. If they have stalks, leave those on.
Pour over the marsala and lemon juice with 100ml of water, tuck the lemon zest under the fruit and add the bay leaves. Sprinkle 100g of the sugar over and around the pears.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the pears are tender and starting to wrinkle at the edges. Spoon the juices over the top of the pears as they cook.
Add the remaining 25g of sugar near the end of cooking time. You should have a glossy, brown, sweet sauce around the pears. If it looks toffee-ish and thick, add some more water to it. Place the pears in a serving dish and serve with crème fraîche.
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